I’ve slept on it but I’m more convinced than I was yesterday that this is a problematic panel/ #manel. I wrote up my initial thoughts about the lack of #diversity in this group here: http://simonhorrocks.net/ 

Some concerns worth reiterating. A quick thread... /1 https://twitter.com/timeshighered/status/1252225519095078912

In short, this #manel represents a very narrow cross-section of thinking about UK higher education policy. The obvious stuff first:
- they are all male (& is it extrapolating too much to say it’s entitled male leadership that has been exposed by this crisis?) /2

- they are all white (issues of ethnic diversity in UK HE have been well documented - lower outcomes for BAME students, lack of black professors etc)
- they are all Oxbridge educated (completely unrepresentative of the diverse UK HE landscape) /3

I think these points should be enough for @timeshighered to ask are these really the voices we need to amplify when we think where next for UK HE.

But there’s more. Made up of ex Universities/Science ministers for Conservative govts, this panel is ideologically v. narrow. /4

As HE is almost entirely devolved, how can David Willetts, @CSkidmoreUK & @JoJohnsonUK speak for the UK? Short answer: they can’t. I’m sure @wgmin_education & @RichardLochhead would agree.

This means that the panel represents various shades of English market-driven HE. /5

Although this is complex territory, wouldn’t it be reasonable to ask if it is not this very same market-driven, neoliberal ideology that has left the HE sector so vulnerable? But these are the voices @timeshighered has chosen to amplify.

Why have they chosen to do this? /6

We can only imagine the editorial meeting where the concept for this event was discussed. But I’d wager that this is dream territory for wonks - 3 ex-ministers on one panel!

In short, I can’t escape the conclusion that this is the product of London-centric groupthink. /7

I don’t doubt this panel has been brought together with good intentions but forgive me for repeating what I said yesterday: surely we need more #diversity of voices now, not less.

/end